In slow, grating sounds, the stone wall blocking the crypt's entrance pushed leftward and, alongside Dong Ling, Xinzi stepped back into Tusha's main hall. There, a lone Chun Xu perfected her cultivation of the Heart Chasing Immortal Law—or so it seemed at a first glance. But one probe of his Spiritual Sense enabled Xinzi to see that the Sword Fairy...had left already.
"Eh? Senior sister, for someone who spent a month without food or water, you look oddly healthy. What did you survive on? Bitter tears and jealousy?" Dong Ling asked, not pulling any punches. While legends of immortal cultivators not needing food or water crowded the streets, this only applied to Pulse Condensation realm experts or above. Qi Refinement or Foundation Building cultivators simply had a much larger tolerance than the average person.
By relying on her 1,500 Spiritual Drops, Chun Xu could go fifteen months without food or water. Thus, although Dong Ling didn't believe that Chun Xu would greet them half-dead on the ground, she still expected to see some discomfort. Instead, Chun Xu glowed in a dazzling hue, giving her the appearance of a freshly consecrated saintess bathing in divine splendor.
The longer she looked, the more puzzled Dong Ling became. But before she could make sense of this change, Xinzi chimed in. "Don't let that thing fool you. This is just a lingering Obsession. Chun Xu must have left this place a couple hours ago following a breakthrough in her cultivation method."
Alerted by Xinzi's warning, Dong Ling activated her Spiritual Sense—it flew right through, confirming Xinzi's words. Starting with Divine Transformation, a cultivator's thoughts and emotions could affect the world on a minor scale. But once they spiraled out of control, a Divine Transformation cultivator's emotions manifested through Obsessions: mirror images of the cultivator's chaotic state. Until they destroyed these Obsessions, Divine Transformation level powerhouses could no longer improve their cultivation base.
A Divine Transformation powerhouse, Chun Xu was not. But after cultivating a Sword Soul, the Heart Chasing Immortal Law forced her to channel, expel and either transcend or indulge her obsessions to break through the next level of the cultivation method. The obsessions sharpened Chun Xu's sword soul, enhanced her Soul Force and boosted the destructive power of her spiritual attacks.
Xinzi couldn't identify this obsession's roots and wondered what the sword fairy selected for her breakthrough. But since the Obsession still lingered here, clearly she'd chosen to indulge it. Chun Xu's obsession opened its eyes, ignoring Dong Ling's jab to focus on Xinzi. Its eyes lingered on Xinzi's right arm, which the monk kept concealed underneath tight bandages. "Do you think you can conceal the mutation with these changes alone?" Obsession-Chunxu asked. The probe put a smile on Xinzi's face.
"Who said I'm trying to?" He asked rhetorically. The monk's reply convinced Chun Xu that he'd somehow turned his mutant arm into a trap that only Xia Hu could bite on. Her lips curled up, but interestingly, she made no further comments and shifted her attention to Dong Ling. "The contest starts in three hours. I've gone a step ahead and will be waiting for you there. Hopefully, you made a good use of your time. I'd hate to make you disgrace yourself too quickly."
"Don't worry, senior sister. I will go easy on you," Dong Ling clapped back. But while neither side minced their words, for once the tension didn't reach a stifling altitude.
"Xinzi, when I led Xia Hu to track you down, I didn't expect that I'd stumble on so many opportunities. The history of the Celestial Hall, the legacy of the Snow Empress, a sage-grade cultivation method; you have treated me very well. In the future, I will repay you," the Obsession said and broke down into particles of light that merged to form a white-jade sword. The sword turned into a beam of soul flames, bypassing all obstacles to return to the real Chun Xu.
"I am about to have a tough matchup," Dong Ling said. As she appraised the depth of Chun Xu's growth, the snakegirl had to admit that her senior sister didn't let these weeks of secluded cultivation go to waste.
"That's the euphemism of the century." Xinzi didn't sugarcoat it. If a lingering obsession could conjure such pressure, the true body's current abilities were hard to fathom. Were the roles reversed, Xinzi would have nothing to fear. But while her strength had made an exponential leap, Dong Ling still came out the underdog.
"You can't pretend that I will win splendidly?"
"I can't deceive you...well I can, but not that brazenly."
"Bold dual cauldron. Next time we go into seclusion, I will make sure to wring you dry."
"Oh, how dreadful. I shudder at the thought." Quipping back and forth, the pair left the Dream Mountain. After hiding in the Dream Mountain for a month, neither Chun Xu nor Dong Ling believed that the Ice-Fire cave's mysterious beasts still watched out for them. At the same time, following the destruction of Dong Hui and Zi Fengxiu's life plates, Guang Fanghu would likely dispatch disciples to investigate, forcing the beasts to reconsider their priorities.
They weren't incorrect. On the one hand, the change in leadership put an end to the beast's antagonistic stance; on the other, Guang Fanghu did send troops to investigate. They just returned empty-handed—unable to gleam the tiniest clue from the Ice-Fire cave.
One month in a half-decent cultivator's life was nothing. Zi Yao made her husband understand that Dong Ling should seek opportunities and accumulate some experience, lest she get cheated by treacherous fiends in the future. That said, it was one thing to understand, another to comply. Once the life plates of Dong Ling's bodyguards broke down, Guang Fanghu could not control himself, and would have rushed into the Ice-Fire cave if not for Zi Yao and the sect elders threatening him with the consequences.
Suppressing his fears and indignation, Guang Fanghu found all the excuses he could to vent his frustration on those unfortunate enough to belong to his inner circle—Rong Suishan suffered the most.
Just like Chun Xu, Dong Ling could leave on her own, but wouldn't miss an opportunity to keep Xinzi tied to her chest. Well, at least that's how she planned to have it at first. A pity that fate decided to get in the way.
A distress talisman flew out of Xinzi's ring, flashing with electric orange arcs. An emergency device, a distress talisman enabled cultivators to imprint their Spiritual Sense on its surface so that in emergencies they could contact the talisman's owner. The talisman's owner could also burn the thing to warn the imprint owners of the danger they faced. Guang Fanghu did try to reach Dong Ling through a distress talisman, but as he attempted to, his dear lass was getting pounded to the ninth heaven by Xinzi's corrupt meat-slab. It would have been rude to answer then.
Xinzi tapped the talisman, and two hurried voices filled his mind. 'Abbot, abbot! On the grounds of reviewing our ledgers, the Law Enforcement hall dispatched elite disciples to investigate our Liberation Temple and its donors!' A'Zhi and A'Zhu, Xinzi's twin initiates, said in tandem.
'Oh really?' At first puzzled by the move, Xinzi arched one eyebrow. Even within its walls, the White Immortal sect had plenty of subordinate forces, mainly set up by influential elders to pass on their legacies. Anyone with an elder's approval could set up a subordinate force. But running a faction drained time and resources that most would rather invest in their own cultivation.
Every six months, the subordinate forces and various halls submitted detailed records of their revenues and expenses to the Treasury, which then reported irregularities to the Law Enforcement hall. Xinzi's Liberation Temple never failed to report in time. As for the deals our monk carried out in Dongli's black markets, they naturally wouldn't appear on the records.
The Treasury couldn't spot any irregularity, and even if they could, they wouldn't have the courage to report them. Why then was the Law Enforcement hall knocking on Xinzi's door?
'Just three hours before the Yin-Yang Controller contest. The timing is oddly convenient. Yan Le's husband is an elder of the Law Enforcement hall and might want to test some suspicions, but if that were the case, he wouldn't be starting now. Only one man has both the power and the nerve to order this.' Guang Fanghu's face appeared in Xinzi's mind, making him tilt his head and sigh in exasperation.
'How many and where is Yan Le?'
'Following her initiation ritual, Yan Le went into seclusion and broke through to the Pulse Condensation stage. Thanks to her husband's influence and her position in our temple, the sect officially accepted her as an elite disciple. She's currently facing the Law Enforcement disciples. But they have nine peak-stage Foundation Building and three early-stage Pulse Condensation experts. Alone, she can't delay them.'
"What's wrong?" Dong Ling asked, guessing from the distress talisman and Xinzi's mood-change that something must have happened in his Liberation Temple.
"A minor disturbance. I have to handle it personally. You will have to go back without me," Xinzi said with a forced smile, and though she wanted to know more, Dong Ling nodded and pulled out several teleportation talismans—she vanished subsequently.
Xinzi's smile disappeared alongside Dong Ling. His eyes grew cold and he shifted his attention back to the twins.
'Our dear patriarch is having an alpha-male crisis and wants to show off his might. Resist them and you will die. That would be a pity. I am on my way,' Xinzi said and with a succession of teleportation talismans, returned to the White Immortal sect's gate. There, the teleportation stopped, forcing Xinzi to leap from one roof to another, on his way back to the Liberation Temple.
…
At the Liberation Temple's entrance gate, twelve disciples clad in black and white robes lined up. A dark-haired beauty faced them, playing with her ponytail as if this unusual gathering had nothing to do with her.
"Yan Le, you've only been approved as an elite disciple two weeks ago. It would be a shame to throw all that away for a reckless master."
"It is the White Immortal sect, not the Liberation Temple that guarantees your position. Are you going to jeopardize your future by hiding under the wrong tree?" One after the other, the disciples attempted to convince Yan Le to back off.
Her foundation in the sect was still shallow but, at the end of the day, Yan Le was still their superior's pampered Dao Companion. Even if they were following the patriarch's orders, they would still have to bear the consequences for harming her. For obvious reasons, they'd rather avoid that. Alas, their words failed to impress Yan Le.
"Wrong tree? Who would that wrong tree be? I've spent half my life as a loose cultivator, but still understand that the sturdiest tree is not always the oldest. For the sake of all the infractions that you overlooked for me, let me give you some advice. It's not too late to reject the darkness and embrace the light. Maybe once you receive our Liberation Temple's blessings, your souls will become attractive enough that I can finally ignore your monkey-butt faces. Aiyah, you look so ugly that no matter how hard I try, my eyes refuse to glance your way," Yan Le said in a coy voice and covered her eyes for good measure.
Not prepared for this low blow, the Law Enforcement disciples reeled back. Their cheeks heated up, and their eyes turned red.
"That being the case, don't blame us for being heartless!" No longer giving face to their superior, the 12 Law Enforcement disciples unsheathed their swords. Their cultivation bases erupted, putting Yan Le's shoulders under extreme pressure.
Her knees buckled, but before the pressure could pin her down, a veil of sanguine mist gathered above the Liberation Temple, releasing a formless force that neutered the Law Enforcement disciples' pressure.
'Well said.' Akin to the frenzied roar of a rank three Blood Spirit, Xinzi's voice tore through the Law Enforcement disciples' eardrums. The elite disciples trembled, restraining their chaotic blood flow while their subordinates turned livid and fell face-first. Blood poured out from the inner disciples' orifices, but still they lay limp on the ground—their life or death unknown.
'Since you were so kind to give A'Le a chance, I will do the same. Sheathe your swords, scram and…'
"AAAAARGH! Stop! Stop! Please stop!" With each of Xinzi's words, the elite disciples felt their blood grow more chaotic. Their eyes went bloodshot, and their veins pulsed incessantly.
'Not even going to listen to the offer? How rude! Oh well, though I respect the commitment to asinine authority…' Xinzi's words trailed off. The elite disciples' blood boiled and wrecked havoc throughout their bodies, making their eyes bleed sanguine tears and their internal organs fail.
"W-what sorcery is this? AAAAARGH!" Before a flabbergasted Yan Le, the three elite disciples' heads burst into a gory feast of blood, brain and bones. Their corpses turned limp and dropped beside their subordinates—never to rise again.
'I have to honor my words.'
